Problems with UK visa online application,

[Lickey]

I am trying to apply for my wife on the new online site,when i enter my e-mail it comes up with invalid,ive tried 2 other e-mails and same thing, ive re-logged in, re-started pc, tried about 6 times now, am i going wrong somewhere?

Thanks, Lickey,

[sunnyjim5]

Are you using lowercase letters for the email address ?

[Lickey]

Are you using lowercase letters for the email address ?

Yes mate, im sure that is ok,,

[bobrussell]

Password has to have an upper case letter, a lower case letter, include a number and be at least 8 characters long. Beyond that I have no idea!

[rasg]

I had the same problem with my .tv address last year and switched to a .com account that I rarely use.

[Lickey]

Password has to have an upper case letter, a lower case letter, include a number and be at least 8 characters long. Beyond that I have no idea!

yes bob, all that is ok, im logged on, its the 3rd question down, enter your e-mail, no password requried for that, just comes up invalid,although its been good for near 20 years now,,

[williewolf]

I did an application yesterday for my wife and niece and had the same trouble, what i did was stay logged in and delete the application and start again. You can still use the same account details, it just gives you a new ref number

[evadgib]

The application process appears monumentally over complicated and likely to take longer than the flight!

Edited January 5, 2016 by evadgib

[rasg]

That is very true for the first one.

Gathering all the information for my GFs first Visit Visa last year took many hours over quite a few weeks. With any subsequent visa it is simple to refer to the previous information as much of it is the same.

A tip. When you have completed the application you can download the information you have supplied to your computer. It may have come as an email, I can’t remember. Make sure you keep it somewhere safe!

I have a folder with all of the information gathered for the first Visit Visa on my computer. In another folder Information for the second VV was pretty much the same with more photos of us together, more passport stamps, more boarding cards, airline tickets where we have flown together, newer bank statements etc etc. All backed up to second hard drive on my computer.

[evadgib]

Appreciated

Our first trip home was more than a decade ago* but children and the recession prevented a repeat until now. This time we're going as a family with only the wife requiring a visa.

I'm not anticipating any major probs but will ask here if I get stuck!

(*We still have the old ppt & visa!)

Edited January 5, 2016 by evadgib

[Lickey]

Still having problems,after 2 more tries, i cleared everything and tried to make new acc with a different e-mail addy, now i cant even do that,says my e-mail is invalid again.

On searching the site i found this,,

What browsers do you support?

The following is a list of browsers tested to work with the site: Internet Explorer 10, 9 and 8; Chrome 30 and 29; Firefox 25. If you are not using one of the tested Web Browsers you may encounter errors when creating your account and applications.

What browsers do you not support?

The following is a list of browsers that do not work with this site: Internet Explorer 6, 7 and 11. If you are not using one of the tested Web Browsers you may encounter errors when creating your account and applications.

Mine is Windows XP sp3, and my Google Chrome shows this Version 47.0.2526.106 m Perhaps this is the problem? i dont know, im no computer expert,,

Thanks.

[evadgib]

The computer I used this morning was XP & Chrome. The only problem I had while registering was a failure to send their initial email which was resolved after 30 mins by clicking their 'forgot your password' which worked immediately and enabled me to start the application.

Edited January 5, 2016 by evadgib

[Jip99]

That is very true for the first one.

Gathering all the information for my GFs first Visit Visa last year took many hours over quite a few weeks. With any subsequent visa it is simple to refer to the previous information as much of it is the same.

A tip. When you have completed the application you can download the information you have supplied to your computer. It may have come as an email, I can’t remember. Make sure you keep it somewhere safe!

I have a folder with all of the information gathered for the first Visit Visa on my computer. In another folder Information for the second VV was pretty much the same with more photos of us together, more passport stamps, more boarding cards, airline tickets where we have flown together, newer bank statements etc etc. All backed up to second hard drive on my computer.

It would be helpful if you could edit a previous application - or at least part pre-fill a new one.

Before submitting an application a screen appears with all the input data (about 8 pages on Word). I simply copy and paste into a Word document for future reference.

[Lickey]

The computer I used this morning was XP & Chrome. The only problem I had while registering was a failure to send their initial email which was resolved after 30 mins by clicking their 'forgot your password' which worked immediately and enabled me to start the application.

well thats a bit of good news, if i could only register now i can get on with it,,

[rasg]

It would be helpful if you could edit a previous application - or at least part pre-fill a new one.

It's a shame that you can’t change the type or length of visa after starting one too. I hope that will change when it is out of beta but I won’t hold my breath.

Before submitting an application a screen appears with all the input data (about 8 pages on Word). I simply copy and paste into a Word document for future reference.

That was the thing I was was trying to think of as I have mine as text but also as a PDF. Both do the job as far as copy and paste is concerned.

Edited January 5, 2016 by rasg

[Lickey]

Finally got there by using Mrs daughters e-mail addy, but blimey, its hard work, so im doing form for Mrs, then it wants my details,done, next section, Father, whoes?? hers or mine? so i start doing mine, thinking this cant be right,

My dad and her mum & dad died a many years ago, so i dont have any memory of her parents, went to wake her, came back and it had logged out, oh dear, what a very poor site indeed,

above poster was right, could have flown to the UK time ive filled this lot in !!!

[bobrussell]

Even the ECO cannot change the category of visa on his or her system. If you apply for one type and they refuse it but you meet the requirements for a different type, they have to reject that one and get you to submit a new one!

This was a complaint raised during an inspection by the Chief Inspector of Borders.

A rubbish website, rubbish form which creates no end of headaches!

[evadgib]

Some might find this useful:

Digital Assistance

Digital Assist service is for applicants who need assistance in completing their online application on visa4uk. This service will allow VFS dedicated staff to complete the application form on the behalf of applicants.

The Digital Assist fee is THB 500 per application and available in Bangkok only. Payment can be made online or by cash when you attend your appointment at the visa application centre.

Edited January 6, 2016 by evadgib

[evadgib]

Having completed the process i'm pleased to report that it was nowhere near as bad as it had first appeared and that this thread was particularly useful.

Thanks all

Edit: Paying in USD with no option to do so in GBP cost a good 10 quid more than it should have done. I might draw their attention to this in due course...

Edited January 8, 2016 by evadgib

[Lickey]

Having completed the process i'm pleased to report that it was nowhere near as bad as it had first appeared and that this thread was particularly useful.

Thanks all

Edit: Paying in USD with no option to do so in GBP cost a good 10 quid more than it should have done. I might draw their attention to this in due course...

Ive just looked at the site, i would think you were applying for your wife/gf, so you fill in their details? again its not clear on this, same as the app site,

[NCFC]

Finally got there by using Mrs daughters e-mail addy, but blimey, its hard work, so im doing form for Mrs, then it wants my details,done, next section, Father, whoes?? hers or mine? so i start doing mine, thinking this cant be right,

My dad and her mum & dad died a many years ago, so i dont have any memory of her parents, went to wake her, came back and it had logged out, oh dear, what a very poor site indeed,

above poster was right, could have flown to the UK time ive filled this lot in !!!

Where it asks for her parents DOB, my wife had no idea. Even her mother, who is still alive, has no idea of her DOB. Her mother lost her ID long time ago and has never bothered to renew it. We left those fields blank, but in my application I added a note to say when had no way of knowing. It wasn't an issue.

[Lickey]

You were lucky, it says mandatory field and wouldnt let me go to next section,so next day Mrs went to goverment office and got all their details for 20bht, so i could carry on,

filled it all in and went to next section, it had logged me out,logged in and it had cleared every thing i had entered, then i tried a walk in visa for extra 1500bht, using the GWF no,it said it was already in use!!!

With that i filled in a complaint form and now awaiting a reply,,, perhaps 20 working days?dont look like we are going to make my sons wedding now,

[bobrussell]

In old guidance notes it states that where a date of birth is not known the applicant just puts 01/01/1900 and explain this in the covering letter. We just made up the dates for my wife's mother (mothers day). We had no clue about her father as he died many years ago. We used the 1900 date without incident!

You should click the 'save' icon, wherever you see it or the application is likely to disappear on exiting. Information entered between 'save' icons will be lost so make sure you don't pause between these buttons! Online forms that have not been saved are deleted after two days (apparently).

They also state that you may not see all the answers you have entered but 'Be assured that we have received the answers'!

It is a terrible website, badly designed and I bet cost a fortune!!

Edited January 13, 2016 by bobrussell

[wooloomooloo]

Edit: Paying in USD with no option to do so in GBP cost a good 10 quid more than it should have done. I might draw their attention to this in due course...

There's a bigger shock in store for those who are paying for a settlement application at a supposed fixed price. That's until you come to settle the fee and find the goalposts have moved in the government's favour, of course.